Cardiff Alien Care & Control
by Aviv b
Summary: Something quite unexpected comes through the rift. Bonus art work at /artwork-avivb. livejournal. com /7191. html


"It's a big one," Tosh said watching the rift monitor carefully. "Single spike, but this isn't some small object coming through.

Jack hurried over to look at it. "That's the largest one we've had in a long time," he said staring at the screen. Where is that?"

Ianto came up behind the pair. "Close by, looks like it's right near Wenallt. Nice area for picnics. But not in February."

Tosh looked up from where she had been typing away on her computer. "I have bad news; there are dozens of life signs. Maybe hundreds."

"We'd better be prepared for anything," Jack replied.

Gwen and Ianto went to the armory to retrieve some stun guns, as well as containment vessels, while Owen packed up medical supplies.

"Any idea if the life signs are human?"

Tosh shook her head. "Can't tell. From the number of life signs and the compactness of their location, I would say something smaller than humans."

"Just so long as they aren't talking cats or tribbles," Owen said as he hauled a huge duffle up the stairs from the medical bay.

"Flying pigs would make a nice change," Ianto snarked as he and Gwen carried in a box of stun grenades.

"Yeah, well if we get more of those, you're not getting me to help clean the pens this time. It took weeks to get their smell out of my hair," Gwen complained.

After the SUV was loaded the team drove off in search of the aliens. Jack drove while the rest of the team speculated on what they would find. A light rain was coming down as they drove toward Wenallt, guided by Tosh who had volunteered to stay behind and monitor the life signs.

Luck was with them and the team quickly located an alien ship. It was about the size of a school bus and had crash landed in a patch of woodland surrounded by fields. No one else seemed to be about so at least they wouldn't have to worry about retconning curious onlookers.

The team scanned the ship and confirmed that there were many life signs aboard. Some of the life signs seemed to be fading and everyone was concerned that the aliens were injured or dying. They cautiously opened what appeared to be the main hatch and were met by an eerie silence. As they crept in, weapons drawn, they were surrounded by warm moist air.

"Smells like the forest," Gwen remarked.

As they looked around, they saw they were indeed inside the bridge of a small spacecraft. There wasn't much to see but one small rabbit-like creature on the floor of the area. Jack found the ship's computer screens but was unable to get them working. He radioed Tosh and relayed images of the computers to her.

"Jack, maybe you should leave them for now. I've just got a readout showing that more life signs are going out."

"Where are you getting these readings from? We've got one dead alien, but there's nothing that looks remotely like a large group of life forms."

Tosh tried to guide them to where the signals were coming from, but they ended up at one of the side walls of the spacecraft. They couldn't find a door or access to another room.

"They are right there," Tosh insisted. "You are standing right next to them."

Ianto pointed out a small panel in the wall and began to examine it.

"Oi, looks like an access panel to electronics," Owen said. "Think there are some bugs in the wires?" he asked only half kidding.

"Don't know," Ianto replied not taking his attention from the panel, "but I think we're about to find out."

The hum of a motor was heard as the panel retracted into the wall. The team readied their stun guns.

"Don't shoot until we see what we are dealing with," Jack ordered.

The wall surrounding the small panel began to fold back like an accordion. The team gasped. Dimly lit by red lights were rows and rows of tiny white round objects each in their own little enclosure.

"They're beautiful, what are they?" Gwen asked.

Jack sighed. "They are eggs. Look, over here, some are broken. The team could see tiny creatures inside some of the broken shells.

"Are they bird's eggs?"

Jack stepped over and looked at the dead alien. "No, something much more precious."

Jack was pretty sure that the rabbit alien had been piloting the ship. "If I'm right this is a nursery ship belonging to the Lapin Diminutus."

"We're looking at a rabbit hatchery, then," Ianto surmised.

Jack nodded. He was almost certain that the ship got caught in a rift during the great Warren Wars of the 32nd century on Kepler 22. Lapin Diminutus, fleeing an enemy that saw their hatchlings as a food source, had colonized the planet in the late 28th Century and had lived there peacefully until a seemingly related species, arrived there in 3232. While the Diminutus produced many eggs, they placed most of them in stasis to keep their population growth manageable.

"The Lapin Gigantus, as they became to be called, bred, well like rabbits, and it wasn't long until they were pushing their way into Lapin Diminutus territory. The Gigantus refused to control their numbers and the Diminutus realized that they would be overrun by their larger, more prolific cousins.

Still they hung on to what territory they could until the Gigantus began to use chemical weapons on their population centers. The adults and hatchlings were killed in large numbers but the eggs in stasis were stored in safety deep underground. As the slaughter went on, the Diminutus became desperate to save some of their offspring. There was one other colony of Lapin Diminutus but they had settled at the other end of the galaxy."

Jack continued the story describing how the last of the Diminutus adults had refurbished three ships to travel to the surviving colony with the cargo of precious eggs. The adults left back on Kepler 22 might not survive but their descendants would.

Unfortunately, their traditional enemies, a large hawk-like species, the Capare, had learned of the mission and attempted to intercept the ships.

"Legend has it that one ship was destroyed, one made it to the remaining colony, but the third ship is lost to history."

"I'd say, history is living right here beside you," Ianto remarked.

"Yeah, looks that way, but they'll be dying off pretty quick unless we find a way to either restore the functions of these incubation chambers or get these eggs to somewhere where we can replicate the needed environment," Owen replied. He was really worried; He could see the life signs on his detector diminishing every minute.

"The ships systems are failing," Tosh radioed them. "I don't even know that it's safe for you to remain there. But I've downloaded everything from their computer and from what I can tell; the most critical element for the surviving eggs is temperature."

After some discussion, the team decided to remove the remaining eggs with surviving embryos and transport them back to the Hub. Ianto directed Tosh to a storeroom in the archives that contained some incubators for several different species.

"Forty-two degrees Celsius. We'll see how many of these I can get calibrated properly," Tosh remarked.

Jack suggested that they try to remove the embryos individually, but this proved tedious and led to more shells being damaged than saved.

"You know, I think we could just unscrew the whole panels and move them that way," Ianto suggested.

"The panels won't fit in the van," Owen replied shaking his head sadly.

"Rhys can bring a truck," Gwen said. "That would work. We'll have to hold the panels upright inside, but at least we'll have chance of getting some of them back in one piece."

It took several hours and some fits and starts before they had the panels of enclosed eggs loaded into the truck. Owen did a quick scan and determined that less than a fourth of the remaining eggs were viable.

Jack wanted to remove the broken eggs, but Owen knew that time was critical "We'll sort them out at the Hub, let's just get them back as quickly as we can, without losing a whole lot more."

Rhys drove as fast as he dared and as carefully as he could back to the Hub. Only two additional eggs were broken on the drive back.

Once they had the panels in the Hub, Owen examined the eggs one by one. The news wasn't good. "If we look at the remaining intact eggs, only a few of them are viable. Either the change in temperature or the movement bringing them here has caused them to expire."

"How many," Jack asked.

"A little less than four dozen."

Tosh had only been able to get three of the incubators up to the proper temperature, and with some maneuvering, Owen and Gwen were able to fit all forty-two eggs inside of them.

Myfanwy had flown down from her aerie to watch all the goings-on and seemed quite interested in the eggs.

"She won't harm them, will she," Tosh asked.

"We'll stay the night and make sure she doesn't touch them," Ianto assured her.

So Ianto and Myfanwy and Jack sat vigil all night. They watched as one egg and then another stopped showing life signs. They couldn't do anything to change the outcome, but they checked and rechecked the temperature to make sure that that at least was being measured correctly.

By the next morning ten of them were gone – and they were all from the same incubator. The four remaining eggs in the defective equipment wouldn't fit into the two other incubators

"Any way we can determine which of these has the best chance of survival," Jack asked Owen.

"I'd guess that the four from the bad incubator have the least chance of survival, so I'd recommend we sacrifice them."

Gwen held one of the glass encased eggs in her hand. She could see the tiny creature moving through the translucent shell. She choked up as she asked, "What should we do, just let them die or break the shells, or feed them to Myfanwy?"

Myfanwy perked up and squawked once as the sound of her name.

"I'd rather not feed them to her," Ianto said gravely. "It seems an unfitting end for them."

"But breaking the shells is just as cruel," Tosh pointed out. "At least they'll not go to waste if we give them to her."

They argued about what to do without reaching a decision. One of the four eggs lost its life sign during their discussion.

"Why don't Gwen and I go out for some lunch and fresh air and we'll continue this when we get back," Ianto said looking at Jack.

Once outside, Gwen stopped Ianto. "I'm not stupid, Ianto. You're letting them destroy those eggs."

"Well, I didn't want to see it, and neither did you, but we both know that they can't survive. I thought it best to leave it in the hands of two medics and Jack."

Gwen nodded and then burst into tears. "I know this is stupid, crying over alien rabbit embryos, but that story that Jack told us, these may be the last of their kind."

"Yeah, well last night he told me that the surviving colony of Lapin Diminutus along with the one ship of eggs that made the trip successfully, continue to survive even in his own time. There are no records of additional eggs showing up, and we have no way to get them to their colony if they do survive."

"So why are we doing this? What's the point?" Gwen asked.

"Because we're human, and the best of human nature is to try to help. And whatever we learn here might help save some other alien down the road. But mainly, because we're Torchwood."

Gwen nodded.

When they went back into the Hub, the three eggs were gone. Myfanwy was gone as well, having flown back to her nest. Ianto and Gwen didn't ask and the remaining team members didn't volunteer any information.

Despite their best efforts, the embryos continued to die off. Five days later, they incinerated the rest of the dead eggs and took the incubators back to the storeroom. Ianto and Gwen both felt a bit heartbroken and couldn't understand how Jack, Owen and Tosh could be walking around the Hub as if nothing had happened.

"_No, it's worse than that,"_ Gwen thought, _"they are positively cheerful."_

And when Jack suggested they meet in the boardroom to discuss what they learned from the experience and Owen had snarked, "that Myfanwy has a fondness for baby rabbits," Ianto lost his cool.

"Owen, shut it. Gwen's already upset, and I'm not too happy about this either."

"You're the one who feeds Myfanwy half a sheep every week, but that's not cruel," Owen retorted.

Fortunately, Jack intervened before things got out of hand. "Boardroom, now," He barked.

Ianto was horrified when he entered the room. It was decorated with balloons and a cake sat on the middle of the table. Gwen was shocked as well.

"This isn't funny. I can't believe you could be so cruel," Gwen spat out.

"Okay, before anyone starts breaking the furniture, let me be the first to toast, Ianto," Owen said. "Congratulations, you're a grandfather."

Ianto looked at Jack and Tosh who were grinning. "What…"

"And we should also toast Gwen, who should be considered the Great Aunt."

"You've all gone stark raving mad," Gwen replied.

Jack turned on the large screen which displayed an image from a remote monitor. It was Myfanwy and she was huddled protectively over three little rabbits.

"Congratulations," Tosh said, "It's a boy, a boy, and a girl, as near as we can tell."

"What the hell," Ianto said staring at the screen.

"After you and Gwen went out Tosh broke the egg with the expired embryo in it. Myfanwy got very upset," Jack said.

"She pecked at me and I really thought she was going to do some damage," Tosh said.

"We weren't sure why she was reacting this way, so we let her have the other three eggs," Owen added. "To our surprise, she took them one by one to her nest and has had them there ever since."

Tosh had activated the remote camera nearest to the nest and had been able to move them so Myfanwy's aerie could be monitored. She and Jack and Owen had watched as she crouched over them, not moving for four days.

"And then the rabbits began to break out of their shells. She's been watching over them the last half a day, but we can't get near enough them to see if they are okay," Owen explained. "Today is your day to feed her, but I don't think those rabbits will eat meat."

Before Owen could say more, Ianto and Gwen had risen out of their seats. "What are we waiting for? There are babies that need feeding," Gwen said.

Tosh and Jack had prepared several plates, one of pureed vegetables, one of finely ground meat, and one of the two mixed. "Didn't know what they ate, so thought we'd try a bit of everything," Jack shrugged.

Ianto and Gwen grabbed the plates and headed up the ladder to Myfanwy's nest. Myfanwy reluctantly let Ianto see the babies. They looked a bit weak, but they were all alive. Myfanwy watched as they tried to get the rabbits to eat something. They all rejected the meat and mixed plates, but ate a little of the vegetable plate.

"Is that enough, do you think?" Gwen asked.

"Don't know, but let's leave that plate up here and leave them for a bit."

Back in the conference room they watched as Myfanwy grabbed a bit of the vegetables and pushed them into the smallest rabbit's mouth. "I hope she's careful with that beak of her," Owen said fearfully. But he needn't have worried; she fed each rabbit in turn and then crouched over them as they went to sleep.

"Do you think they'll survive," Gwen asked.

"No idea," Owen replied. "From those hundreds and hundreds of eggs, we have three hatchlings. And we know next to nothing about their care so we'll have to just feel our way through this."

"I hope everyone understands that the odds aren't in our favor," Jack said quietly.

Tosh had to know, "I hate to ask, but are we going to do with them if they do survive?"

"Build a bunny hutch," Gwen suggested.

"Jack, how big did you say those rabbits get again," Tosh prodded.

"About two stone."

"Make that a very large bunny hutch," Gwen snarked.

"It will have to be more than just a hutch. You saw their ship, they are intelligent and advanced creatures. Their engineering abilities far exceed anything available on 21st century earth.

"And what happens when they reach maturity and they want to reproduce," Ianto asked.

"Owen can neuter them," Tosh replied.

"Oi, I'm a highly trained medic not an employee of Cardiff Animal Care and Control."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out, Owen," Jack said. "Someone with your skills should have no problem treating a few rabbits.

Owen nodded. "Fine, but I'm not feeding or cleaning up after them. That's Ianto's job, as official Hub zookeeper."

"Well he won't have to do it alone," Gwen added. "I'll help."

Later that evening, Jack and Ianto sat in front of the monitor in Jack's office watching Myfanwy feed her charges.

"Can you handle the care of them along with your other duties?"

Ianto smiled. "Well, I do have Gwen to help me."

"You know that won't last," Jack said.

"Yeah, she means well, but I wasn't really counting on it being a permanent offer."

"And you're not upset about that?"

"We are who we are, Jack," Ianto replied. "Gwen wouldn't be Gwen if she followed through on all of her intentions, any more than Owen wouldn't be Owen if he wasn't always complaining and grumbling."

"And you?"

"I do what I do because it gives my life meaning. Even if I don't succeed here, at least I tried."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other, both thinking about another time where Ianto had tried but failed.

"And if they do survive, at least I won't be putting the entire world at risk this time around," Ianto replied, a little wistfully. He noticed the concerned look on Jack's face. "They're not dangerous, are they?"

"Not that I'm aware. They aren't aggressive at all. Even when faced with an enemy determined to wipe them out, they only used defensive measures against them."

"I wonder if they speak, and if we can teach them English," Ianto said as he pulled a pad of paper and a pen off Jack's desk and started to write. "You know, we're going to need to arrange for shipments of fresh vegetables to be delivered to one of our flat's every week, and we'll need litter trays, or would they wear nappies?"

"Don't know," Jack answered.

Ianto began to pace "Do they even wear clothes? And they'll need toys for their enrichment, not to mention space heaters once they are too big for Myfanwy to keep warm, and..."

Jack grabbed Ianto and kissed him deeply.

"What was that for," Ianto asked.

"Because you are who you are," Jack replied. Seeing the confusion on Ianto's face, he continued, "And that's some-bunny special."

"Stop it," Ianto protested as Jack kissed him again. "There's so much I have to do."

"See this is what always happens. The children arrive, and the romance goes out of the relationship."

"Did you say…"

"Shhh," Jack interrupted, "your charges are tucked into bed for the night and I suggest we do the same. Shall we," Jack asked he rose to walk over to the entrance down to his room.

Ianto looked at Jack and began to smile. "Well if you insist, but do we have to go to sleep?"

"Are you sure you're not too tired?"

"I think you can find some ways to wake me up."

"I like the way you think, Jones Ianto Jones," Jack replied as he started to climb down the ladder.


End file.
